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The Fringe is not a showcase of talents. Rather it is like a vast artistic stock-exchange in which those who shout the loudest are noticed, and a very small number of lucky investors make their fortune.
For an artist like Frank Burkitt, without naked women or juggling racist dwarfs to garner attention you can't help but want to scream at people in the street to come and listen. Yet Burkitt doesn't shout, and even on stage he has that quality of profound modesty lacking in so many. This is just a part of what made his Saturday night opener at Sweet ECA so refreshing, in spite of a (relatively) lean audience.
Most Garden Sessions fans, or even casual listeners, will be familiar with Frank's song writing, but to see the man play live is to see a performer completely at one with his material. With an elf-like grace he sways behind the microphone inviting, but not cajoling, the audience into the bittersweet line between fulfilment and sadness that his music inhabits.
With Kara Filibey's harmonies and Chris Stone's frenetic fiddle virtuosity on either side Frank has found an ideal trio to realise his often challenging songs. Chris's remarkable technique and sensitivity provide the ideal counterpoint to the singer's guitar and vocal. The result are two at once subtle and dynamic lead voices on stage, with both fiddle and voice demonstrating a startlingly varied musical ability. Stone's ability to quote from a myriad of styles, while adding to, not dominating the songs, is a feat worthy of only the most consummate of musicians.
To draw a comparison in the time honored fashion with Frank Burkitt's music and others is a slightly pointless exercise. Even the bracket "singer songwriter" is a little to riddled with self-indulgence to apply. He had the sadness of Nick Drake, the dapper delivery of Sinatra, and a clutch of well-crafted songs populated with the universal characters, aspirations and human failings that are the timeless staple of folk music. The simplicity of Frank's songs are what make them so refreshing. As Woody Guthrie once pointed out, "complicated? Any damn fool can be complicated." The ability to write honest, accessible songs that have a poignancy and lasting impression on a listener is extremely rare.
- Garden Sessions
Frank Burkitt, Leith Folk Club, December 2007
Having heard Chris play at the club earlier in the year with Aussie band Eilean Mor, we were eagerly anticipating the return visit of their dazzling barefoot young fiddle player, this time in the company of Frank Burkitt, a lad who is building a reputation as a strong and inventive songwriter and performer.
We weren't disappointed. Frank led the show with song after wonderful song delivered in his own confident, easy style. Chris was always there by his side, weaving effortlessly in and out of the melody. He is one of those musicians that defy description: while the style is unquestionably Celtic, one minute there's a jazzy Parisian lick, next there's an arpeggio that could be from one of the Bach violin concertos. Leith Folk Club has been graced by some of the best fiddle players in the world - Chris Stout, Tommy Peoples, Casey Driessen to name a few, and Chris Stone could take his place beside any of them.
And yet, despite the quality of the material and the musicianship, it was the arrangements that really shone through this evening. It was very clear that this was a band who had spend many long hours working on their set: Holly Downes on the double bass and Kara Filbey singing backing were always there providing depth and structure, always on time, always in perfect harmony.
All in all this was a delightful evening, and a fitting end to a great year at Leith Folk Club.
Martin Finnigan
Leith Folk Club
www.leithfolkclub.org
www.myspace.com/leithfolkclub
- Leith Folk Club
Discography
'Little Less Care' - album released May 2008.
See www.frankburkitt.co.uk and www.gardensessions.co.uk for more information and to listen to songs. Songs often played on Garden Sessions fortnightly podcast.
Photos
Bio
Frank hails from the Scottish Highlands where his song writing began at an early age. Influenced by many classical and jazz artists, he sang and played his own material at many local venues and events.
However, it was the move down to Edinburgh for university that provided a change of musical scenery and influence, and would give his song-writing and musicianship a new direction. He became heavily involved in the folk music scene and became a regular at the famous pub The Royal Oak. His songs from then on drew from the characters and stories from this colourful environment.
Frank also became a co-presenter on the Garden Sessions podcast (www.gardensessions.co.uk) which showcases upcoming and established folk acts from Scotland and further afield.
In the summer of 2007 Frank met Chris Stone and completed a week of successful gigs in the world-renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival, along with Frank's girlfriend Kara Filbey singing harmonies. The addition of Chris’ mind-blowing fiddle-playing, and later on, the rhythmic virtuosity of Holly Downes on double bass, and Chris Silver on bouzouki has brought Frank’s music up to a new level. Both classically trained, and highly versatile, Chris and Holly bring fantastic orchestration and arrangement to Frank’s songs, which still keep a feeling of simplicity and personality.
Frank’s debut CD was recorded and released in Edinburgh in the spring of 2008, and after many Scottish gigs, he has a tour in New Zealand to look forward to in April 2009. The tour will cover several festivals and folk clubs across the country. The band are then returning to the UK to continue in England and Wales over the summer.
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